Irl Eyeing Race At Daytona

Inside Motor Sports - Shop talk

Indy Racing League officials said the IRL will return to Walt Disney World Speedway next season, but that's not the only speedway on their minds.

IRL Executive Director Leo Mehl said Tuesday the league hopes to expand its schedule someday to some of NASCAR's biggest tracks, including Daytona International Speedway.

``We've discussed going to Daytona, but right now I think we need a couple more years of experience on 1.5-mile ovals before we expand to other tracks,'' Mehl said. ``It's also important to us not to build the schedule until the teams have the finances to race and test at another track.''

Mehl also expressed concern over the high speeds the open-wheel IRL cars would reach at Daytona, a 2.5-mile, high-banked superspeedway. The IRL cars can travel more than 25 mph faster than stock cars.

Speedway spokesman John Story said NASCAR President Bill France is aware the IRL is interested in expanding its 11-race schedule to Daytona but hasn't received a formal proposal from the league requesting a race date.

``We're certainly interested in all forms of racing and would evaluate a proposal from the IRL, just as we would any other proposal,'' Story said. ``If the IRL cars are able to run on a high-banked facility like this, I think you would see world-record speeds shattered.''

The IRL's biggest track right now is the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where defending IRL champion Tony Stewart ran 223.104 mph on April 20 during testing for the Indianapolis 500. It was the fastest lap at the speedway in the new IRL cars.

ON TV

SEVEN-TIME NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt will make a guest voice appearance on Sunday during the animated comedy series King of the Hill at 8:30 p.m. on Fox (WOFL-Channel 35).

Earnhardt will be on the episode ``Life in the Fast Lane'' and will appear when one of the characters gets a job selling sodas at a local racetrack.

``It was a surprise when they asked if I was interested in doing a part for the show,'' Earnhardt said. ``After talking to the writers, I found out they are big NASCAR fans.''